A goal of many pharmaceutical companies is to make their life-saving medication available to as many people in as many countries as possible. However, in many cases cost becomes a prohibitive factor. Surprisingly, in some, if not most instances, it is not the cost of that actual medication that prohibits a treatment from becoming widely accessible but the cost of the packaging and shipping of the medication that makes it cost prohibitive. Thus, reducing the cost of packaging is one way to lower the cost of medications, enabling companies to make needed treatments more readily accessible to more patients.
The problem with traditional packaging, specifically pre-filled glass syringes, is two-fold. The first is the cost of manufacturing the glass drug container. The second is the cost of filling the glass container. Manufacturing and filling, are by their very nature are two distinct processes. The first step is to form the container. Then the glass container must be packaged and shipped to the filling facility. Once at the filling facility, the container must be unpacked and then filled.
Another issue that plagues conventional syringes is that conventional syringes can be refilled and reused. This is a major concern as reusing syringes promotes the transmission of blood borne diseases like HIV.
Thus, there is a need for a low-cost prefilled disposable syringe that cannot be refilled or reused.